Chi Cerca Trova
by Lola Ravenhill
Summary: Remus slid down in the bed...kissing the almost sleeping boy on the cheek. “You’ll find what you’re looking for. I promise.” An RS ficlet.


Chi Cerca Trova

By Lola Ravenhill

* * *

Remus toyed with his quill, sending a stream of blue into an ancient scratch on the desk. Normally he should have been worried about defacing school property, but admittedly his mind was off in a daze. He didn't even have an idea of what McGonagall was currently lecturing them about. Something that would appear on the NEWT, no doubt, but he really couldn't be arsed to care at the moment.

After what felt like forever the bell rang and Remus ran for the door, impressing even those students who treated the end of class bell like the starting gun for the 100 meter dash. Unfortunately, McGonagall's voice stopped him cold, making him bash his thigh on a desk. "Mr. Lupin, a moment please?"

"Yes, Professor?" he asked, watching the other students shuffle past him.

"How is Mr. Black doing?" she questioned once all of the students save for James had left.

Remus sighed, running a hand through hair that should have seen a brush about eight hours earlier. At least he'd managed to shower, what more did people want from him? "He's still not well. Madam Pomfrey's got him on Lazulin potion for the fever, but he's still hallucinating."

McGonagall nodded, moving back towards her desk. "I do hope he feels better soon. He is…entertaining in class," at which James snickered, earning a steely glare, "if not one of my best students. If he's able, there are his assignments from the past few days, although we will discuss when they are due in once Mr. Black is well again."

Remus nodded, picking up the stack of papers. "Thanks, Professor." He turned to leave again, following James out of the room.

"Mr. Lupin, one more thing?"

"Yes?" Remus turned around to see McGonagall walking towards him with two rather large crystals clutched in her hands.

"These are amethysts. They are said to amplify healing. All you have to do is place one on the night tables on either side of his head." Remus resisted the urge to arch an eyebrow at McGonagall's uncharacteristic show of caring.

"Thank you," Remus murmured, taking the two stones and leaving the room. He and James fell into step in the hallway, with James matching his stride to Remus's longer, rangy one.

"You heading back to the hospital wing?" he asked.

"Yup. Want to take the homework back to the dormitory? Sirius is in no condition to work on it, last I knew, and even if he was that's no guarantee he'd actually want to do it," Remus said, handing the sheaf of papers to James and pocketing the two crystals.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll get the house elves to set aside some dinner for when you get back."

"Don't wait up," Remus smiled sadly, setting off at a run for the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey wasn't at all surprised to see Remus entering the hospital wing. He'd been there for the better part of the past three days, after all, ever since Sirius had started exhibiting symptoms. Remus hadn't mentioned anything about the state of Sirius and his relationship, but the extremely embarrassing talk he'd received the day before on how to be safe during wizard on wizard sex told him that the school nurse was no dummy and didn't want to see them there because of an allergic reaction to lube applied to the wrong places. She nodded at him as he walked to one of the small quarantine rooms off to the side.

Even though Sirius had been looking sicker than Remus had ever seen him before, he couldn't help but let out a bit of a laugh as he shut the door behind him. "What are you doing, Pads?"

Sirius turned to him, lowering the Omnioculars from his face. His normally perfectly coiffed hair was standing up in all directions, clumpy in some bits and greasy in others. The hospital pajamas were far from flattering as well, practically sagging off of his thin hips. "I'm looking," he said matter-of-factly.

"Looking for what?" Remus asked, quietly moving to place McGonagall's amethysts on the night tables. If she visited, she'd want to see that they were being put to their proper use. There were already a few other get well cards from teachers, so it wasn't a stretch to think McGonagall could pay him a visit.

"Something. Can't remember what it is right now, but I know it's out there." He raised the binoculars again and knelt on the mattress, leaning forward to try and peer out of the window. Remus knelt on the bed next to him, watching the first years leave their Herbology class in the greenhouses in the deepening evening.

"I don't think Madam Sprout's got anything you want. Remember, she stopped growing those plants after the Ravenclaws got into it and devoured most of the biscuits set aside for the Halloween Feast."

Sirius shook his head, screwing his face up in frustration. "No, there's something else out there…" The next thing Remus knew Sirius was at the window, hands working rapidly at the latch as one leg was moving upwards to throw itself over the windowsill.

"NO!" Without even thinking Remus ran forward (he almost felt as if he had apparated for a moment there, if it was possible), grabbed Sirius in a bear hug around the waist, and threw the two of them backwards. They landed on the bed with a loud thump and an "Ooof!" with Sirius's elbows knocking Remus in the head as they fell. Before Sirius could try and make for the window again Remus flipped him onto his back and used his wand to tuck the sheets in firmly around him, effectively securing him to the bed. "Good God, you're burning up," Remus panted, sitting down on the side of the bed and smoothing some sweaty hair off of Sirius's forehead.

"Why'd you do that," he pouted, wriggling around in the sheets. "I've still gotta find…whatever it is."

"What you need to do is calm down and rest, otherwise you're never going to get better," Remus said, putting on his most prefecty voice.

"But it's going to go away!"

"I promise you, it'll still be there when you're feeling better. Madam Pomfrey?" he called out. Within a minute the nurse was poking her head in. "Do you have any calming draught? Sirius thought he had seen something outside and tried to leap out the window."

Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips. "The Lazulin potion is exacerbating his hallucinations. We should be able to give him a small dosage of calming draught, but keep him tucked in tight. It won't incapacitate him totally. Accio calming draught!" The vial flew into her hands, and she moved to the bed. "Now, Mr. Black, do not be a baby about this," she said to the face that was currently screwed up and trying to push beneath the pillows. "It tastes like grapefruit, I promise."

"My mum used to use grapefruits as earrings. Not all that att—" He choked as Madam Pomfrey cut him off mid-word, pouring the potion down his throat. Sirius's body sagged back into the pillows and his eyes began to droop.

"Much better," she said. "Will you look after him if he needs anything else, Mr. Lupin?"

Remus nodded, somewhat happy that she didn't look like she was going to kick him out like she had the previous days. With that, Madam Pomfrey left them alone. Remus waved his wand, setting a few of the sconces alight. "Well this is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Sirius," he sighed, looking down at the boy who was blinking sleepily.

"Still got to find it," he murmured.

"Find what, though?" Remus leaned back against the headboard, Sirius's head at his hip. He then smiled briefly, remembering something. "When I went to visit my cousin Gianni this summer we stayed for a while in Florence. While we were there we visited the Palazzo Vecchio. There was this one huge room there, the Salone del Cinquecento, which had these absolutely huge frescoes of Renaissance battles painted on the walls. If you look hard enough though, you can see on one banners being carried the words _'Cerca trova'_—'He who seeks, finds.' So I asked the tour guide about it, you know, what did it mean? Well, he said that the man who had painted the current walls, a chap named Vasari, had painted over preexisting frescoes. Apparently one of these frescoes was by a man called Leonardo da Vinci who was absolutely amazing. This guy was ages ahead of his time, a brilliant artist and inventor, one of the finest minds that has ever or will ever exist." He looked down at the drowsy boy. "And he was all muggle too. Every single spectacular thing he'd ever done in his life was all without magic. Bit humbling, really.

"Anyway, it really was a pisser to Vasari that he had to paint over the genius's previous work. But he was getting paid to paint something glorifying the city's victories, so he didn't really have the option to turn the offer down. So he supposedly put the banner up to indicate where the original masterpiece is under layers and layers of wood and brick and paint. This way, if people need to find Leonardo's work, they can. They're still looking for it, but at least now they have a place to start." Remus slid down in the bed, coming to a stop next to Sirius. He leaned forward and softly kissed the almost sleeping boy on the cheek. "You'll find what you're looking for. I promise."

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself down. The next thing he knew, it was almost dawn and he had spent the night in the hospital wing.

There was a large damp patch his cheek, but he was pretty sure he hadn't been drooling. Sirius was the dog; that was his job. He propped himself up on his arms a bit and found that the wetness was from the heavily sweating Sirius. "Oh, Merlin," he muttered, conjuring up a flannel and wiping off his face. As he was doing this Sirius woke up, wincing and rubbing at his forehead.

"Morning Remus," he smiled up at him…and then turned to puzzlement as he realized where they were. "What the hell happened?" he said, taking in the hospital room and the stack of get well cards.

"You've had an awful fever the past few days," Remus murmured, waving his wand to freshen Sirius's sheets and pajamas. "You were even hallucinating there for a while. I can't say we weren't worried…"

Sirius reached up and grabbed Remus's free hand, wanting the warm skin on skin contact as he suddenly remembered a few incidences. "Oh holy shite, I nearly threw myself out the window," he whispered.

"I pulled you back though," Remus said, lying down once more and pulling Sirius to face him. Sirius draped an arm around his shoulders, leaning his forehead against Remus's.

"You keep me from being too stupid; thank you," he smiled softly.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I can't even remember what it was that I was searching for. Doesn't really matter though," he winked. "S'why you're here, we'll find it together." With that Sirius leaned forward and kissed him just as the sun began to emerge over the horizon.


End file.
